Shadow Prophecy
Instant
Domain — Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control. Put up to two of them into your hand and the rest into your graveyard. You lose 2 life.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Dominaria United
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #19256
Shadow Prophecy lets you look at the top X cards of your library and put two of them into your hand — immediate card selection and card advantage stapled together for two mana plus X. At instant speed with a black-blue color identity, it's a clean rate for any deck that can pay the kicker-style X cost and wants to dig efficiently.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Shadow Prophecy fits any black-blue shell that wants flexible, scalable card draw — pay two in the early game for modest selection, sink ten mana into it late to rifle through your deck and pick your two best answers. Pauper is where it competes hardest for a slot, since the format's card draw options are constrained by rarity and a two-mana floor is real; it earns inclusion there in control builds that can take advantage of the instant speed. In older, more powerful formats like Legacy and Vintage, the rate simply doesn't compete with cantrips and draw spells that cost one mana or less, so Shadow Prophecy rarely sees play there. Modern and Pioneer sit in between — the card is legal but blue has access to strict upgrades at every point on the curve, so it mostly stays in the bulk bin.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Shadow Prophecy is deep bulk — you're paying for cardboard and shipping, not scarcity. Bulk commons with niche Commander applications don't tend to spike unless a new commander pushes them into the spotlight, so treat this as a pickup-when-you-need-it card rather than something worth stocking up on.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.